Lineage Analysis of Circulating Trypanosoma cruzi Parasites and Their Association with Clinical Forms of Chagas Disease in Bolivia

Around 30–50% of Trypanosoma cruzi infections in Latin America cause chronic Chagas disease 10–30 years after the primary infection due to lack of effective treatment. The major clinical complications associated with chronic Chagas disease are cardiac myositis (leading to cardiac failure), and autonomous neuroplexus degeneration of the digestive tract that can cause megacolon or megaesophagus. Therefore, there are three major clinical forms of Chagas disease; cardiac, digestive and indeterminate (asymptomatic). The parasites, which can infect humans as well as other mammals, are transmitted by species of triatomines commonly found in the Americas. The parasite is divided in at least six discrete typing units: TcI, TcIIa–e. In humans, the TcI is mainly observed in Central America and northern parts of South America while the TcIIb/d/e is confined mainly to the southern cone of Latin America. We determined which DTU were prevalent in chronic patients in Bolivia, where the three clinical forms and several DTUs of the parasites are present, in order to determine whether there was a link between a particular parasite DTU and a particular clinical outcome. We found a vast majority of TcIId but its kDNA polymorphism showed no association with any of the clinical manifestations of chronic Chagas

Effectiveness of nifedipine in threatened preterm labor: a randomized trial

Srisuda Songthamwat, Chatchanawadee Na Nan, Metha Songthamwat Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Udonthani Hospital, Udonthani, Thailand Objective: Threatened preterm labor is a condition in which regular uterine contractions occur at least 1 time in 10 minutes and persist for more than 30 minutes before completion of 37 weeks of gestation without dilatation of the cervix. In preterm labor with cervical dilatation, the efficacy of tocolytics was proven for prolonging pregnancy. However, in threatened preterm labor, the efficacy of tocolytics has not yet been well studied. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of nifedipine versus a placebo for inhibiting uterine contraction in threatened preterm labor.Materials and methods: A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study with 206 threatened preterm labor patients was undertaken. The participants were randomly allocated into either nifedipine or placebo groups. The proportion of patients with successful treatment, gestational age at delivery, and neonatal outcome were compared between the 2 groups.Results: After 90 minutes of treatment, 88.3% of the nifedipine group and 69.9% of the placebo group had no uterine contraction (P<0.001). Nifedipine led to successful treatment outcomes in 77.6% of the total participants compared with 49.5% in the placebo group (P<0.001). The remainder of the participants from both groups needed a second-line tocolytic drug. Of these, 9.7% in the nifedipine group delivered within 48 hours compared with 12.6% in the placebo group (P>0.05). Mean gestation age at delivery and neonatal complications for both groups were not significantly different.Conclusion: Nifedipine had a higher success rate for inhibiting threatened preterm contractions. Keywords: nifedipine, threatened preterm labor, preterm labor, tocolysis, randomized tria